Tulasi chaura

Tulasi Vrindavan or Chaura in rural house

Tulasi Chaura, Tulasi Vrindavan (Odia: ତୁଳସୀ ଚଉରା), Tulasi Brundavanam (Telugu: తులసి బృందావనం) or Tulasi Thara (Malayalam: തുളസിത്തറ) is a small podium-like stone or cement construction in front of traditional Hindu houses, housing the sacred Tulasi plant.

Significance in Hinduism[]

Tulasī or Holy Basil is an aromatic plant in the family Lamiaceae which is native throughout the Old World tropics and widespread as a cultivated plant and an escaped weed.^[1] and considered as a holy plant by the Hindus and is worshiped as Brunda debi (Vrunda devi) or Brundabati. Every morning after bath the Odia people worship the plant by pouring water and take few leaves as prasada. Tulasi is a sacred plant for Hindus. Water mixed with tulsi petals is given to the dying to raise their departing souls to heaven.^[2] In Pana Sankranti a tiny hole is made in a small earthen pot filled with Pana and hung in a stick so that the drops of Pana fall on the roots of Tulasi which signifies the beginning of Asadha in rainy season. , Guda (jaggery) and yogurt are served as prasada in the Tulasi chaura on that day.^[3]

Tulsi Vivah[]

A ceremony known as Tulsi Vivah is performed by the Hindus between Prabodhini Ekadashi (eleventh lunar day of the waxing moon of Kartika) to Kartik Poornima (full moon in Kartika), usually on the eleventh or the twelfth lunar day. It is the ceremonial wedding of the Tulsi plant to Vishnu, in the form of his image, Shaligram or a Krishna or Rama image. Both the bride and the groom are ritually worshipped and then married as per traditional Hindu wedding rituals. It marks the end of the four-month Chaturmas period, which corresponds to the monsoon and is considered inauspicious for weddings and other rituals, so the day inaugurates the annual marriage season in India.^[4]^[5]

Gallery[]

Tulsi Vrindavan in Kerala; known as a tulasittara in Malayalam.
Tulasi Brundavanam or Tulasi Kota in a Telugu household
Tulsi Vrindavan in Kerala
Tulsi Mancha at Radhamadhab Temple in West Bengal
Tulasi Vrindavan in a rural house.
A woman from Maharashtra watering Tulsi in 1970s

References[]

^ Staples, George; Michael S. Kristiansen (1999). Ethnic Culinary Herbs. University of Hawaii Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8248-2094-7.
^ "Why do we consider Tulsi sacred?". Hindunet.org. Archived from the original on 11 November 2004. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
^ Rajendran, Abhilash (6 June 2007). "Maha Vishuba Sankranti – Orissa New Year ~ Hindu Blog". Hindu-blog.com. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
^ Flood, Gavin D. (2001). The Blackwell companion to Hinduism. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.
^ "Tulsi Vivah". Sanatan Sanstha. 18 October 2000. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

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[1] Staples, George; Michael S. Kristiansen (1999). Ethnic Culinary Herbs. University of Hawaii Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8248-2094-7.

[2] "Why do we consider Tulsi sacred?". Hindunet.org. Archived from the original on 11 November 2004. Retrieved 16 April 2015.

[3] Rajendran, Abhilash (6 June 2007). "Maha Vishuba Sankranti – Orissa New Year ~ Hindu Blog". Hindu-blog.com. Retrieved 16 April 2015.

[Flood2003-4] Flood, Gavin D. (2001). The Blackwell companion to Hinduism. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.

[5] "Tulsi Vivah". Sanatan Sanstha. 18 October 2000. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

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